Tellme Networks

Tellme Networks, Inc.
Company typesubsidiary of Microsoft
IndustryTelecommunication
Founded1999
HeadquartersMountain View, California
Key people
Mike McCue, Chief executive
ProductsTelephone services and applications
Number of employees
360 (2008)[1]

Tellme Networks, Inc. was an American company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis,[2] which specialized in telephone-based applications. Its headquarters were in Mountain View, California.

Tellme Networks was acquired by Microsoft on March 14, 2007, for approximately $800 million; the deal closed in late April 2007.[3] In 2006, Tellme's phone network processed more than 2 billion unique calls.[4]

Tellme established an information number which provided time-of-day announcements, weather forecasts, brief news and sports summaries, business searches, stock market quotations, driving directions, and similar amenities. Operating by voice prompts and speech-recognition software, it was set up in 2000 as a loss-leader service to demonstrate the Tellme functionality to U.S. consumers. The voice of the Tellme service is Darby Bailey.[5]

In early 2012, Microsoft divested itself of Tellme Networks' interactive voice response (IVR) service and the majority of its employees to 24/7 Inc.[6] The service was moved to a non-toll-free number.

  1. ^ Liedtke, Michael (March 1, 2008). "Tellme's Tale As Microsoft Subsidiary". Associated Press via Wired News. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
  2. ^ "Tellme's Naughty Schoolboy", Business Week, March 13, 2006, archived from the original on March 14, 2006.
  3. ^ "Microsoft Purchase of Tellme Adds Voice To Web Initiative", The Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2007, retrieved 2009-06-01
  4. ^ "Tellme and Cingular Plan Broader Directory Service", The New York Times, October 9, 2006.
  5. ^ Weingerten, Gene. "Directory Persistence helps find Darby". Star-News.
  6. ^ "Microsoft offloads some speech-focused assets, employees to 24/7", ZD net, February 7, 2012, archived from the original (World Wide Web log) on February 9, 2012.